Technical Field
This disclosure relates generally to content management systems, and more particularly to content management systems incorporating digital rights management features.
Background Art
Delivery of electronic content to consumption devices, such as televisions, set-top boxes, mobile devices, computers, and media players has changed the way that users enjoy music, movies, and other works of art. As electronic devices and systems have become more sophisticated, downloadable content has come to supplant traditional media formats such as tapes, compact discs, digital video discs, and the like. Using music as one example, not too long a go a person who wanted to listen to a new song had to travel to a record store to buy a vinyl record, tape, or compact disc. They then had to have an appropriate player with which to listen to the song. For instance, a person who purchased a compact disc placed this disc into a compact disc player and, finally, was able to listen to the song.
By contrast, with new electronic delivery systems, a user simply downloads the desired song with a few clicks of a mouse. That song is then instantly playable on a variety of general-purpose media player devices. In addition to music, pictures, videos, games, software, and other applications are being transferred from provider to consumer via electronic downloads.
Vendors of content frequently take steps to ensure their intellectual property is protected during the downloading process. Singers, songwriters, moviemakers, and other artists want to ensure that their copyright protections are the same in the world of downloaded content as they were during the days of physical media. While an authorized purchaser should be able to enjoy the content, the copyright holder desires a way to prevent unauthorized copying of the content. This desire is heightened given that, with the advent of computers and other portable electronic devices, making copy is as simple as editing a word processing document.
Digital rights management refers to systems and technologies that have the purpose of providing copyright holders a mechanism for controlling the vast number of pieces of content in existence. Digital rights management systems can use various mechanisms for protection against unauthorized copying, including content authentication, authorization, rights verification, rights enforcement, and content protection. Many digital rights management tools include encryption and decryption algorithms, some of which rely on public and private “keys.”
With simple encryption, an encrypted file is transferred to a user with a password. The user may download the file, but is unable to access its contents until a password is entered. A problem with simple encryption is that it allows the user—after having opened the file with the password—to freely make copies and transfer the file.
To solve this problem, many content providers use encryption and decryption algorithms based upon a rights management object known as a “key.” Using such a system, a user receives an encrypted content file and a key. The key is used to access the content of the encrypted content file by decrypting or unlocking the content file. While a user can freely transfer the encrypted file, it can only be accessed with the key. Unless a second user has the key, the encrypted file is useless. As there is only one key, only one user can access the encrypted file at any one time.
When a single content provider has hundreds of thousands of contents under its control, using a key-based system requires the management of hundreds and thousands of digital keys. Management of all these keys can be difficult. Moreover, many downloading systems allow users to rent content rather than purchase it. When users rent instead of purchase, keys must not only be downloaded, but returned as well. This can be difficult. It would be advantageous to have an improved digital rights management system.
Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures are illustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily been drawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements in the figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help to improve understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure.